


Inner Dark

by Jemisard



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Past Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-24
Updated: 2015-04-24
Packaged: 2018-03-25 12:21:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3810220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jemisard/pseuds/Jemisard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the Dragon Age Kink Meme: <br/>http://dragonage-kink.livejournal.com/13696.html?thread=53208192#t53208192</p>
<p>A cave in brings Cole's memories of the boy he never was crashing in around him and Varric.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Inner Dark

Varric hated fighting with Bull for this exact reason.

Bull was a great guy, but he got into battle and that was it. He'd smash the bad guys, sure, but he'd smash up the wildlife, the plant life, the landscape and anything else that got in the way.

Like the load bearing column in the mine shaft.

The rumble was something no dwarf–even a surface born one–could ignore. He had seen where the crack was forming, seen that having ducked Bull's axe, Cole was not going to get out of the way in time.

In the seconds between the rumble and the collapse, Varric had barrelled into Cole's lanky form, slamming them both into a dugout alcove. Stone and dirt filled the space where they'd been, blanketing them in smothering darkness and choking the air with dust.

Varric coughed, pulling up his bandana to cover his face and filter the air. He could feel Cole under him, lying still and silent and he reached up until he could feel the soft skin of Cole's cheeks and the tiny puffs of air that escaped him.

"Kid? You awake?" He tapped his cheek softly. "Kid?"

"I don't know," Cole whispered.

He was conscious enough to talk. That was a good start. "Okay, I need you to be still and quiet for a moment, so we can hear if the others are calling us."

Cole was silent, so Varric took that as assent. He slowed his breathing, listening carefully and feeling the air on his face and hands.

There were trickles of air movement. He moved closer to them, pressing his ear to the gap and listening.

If he strained, he could hear distant, muffled sounds, yelling and arguing. The others were clearly fine if they were in a state to be bellowing.

There was a whimper.

That was _not_ from the gap. "Kid?"

Cole said nothing in response. In fact, if anything, it sounded like hearing Varric's voice made him fall more silent, not even breathing.

"There's airflow, it's okay. We're not going to suffocate. Well, I'm not, you might if you keep holding your breath like that." He felt his way back up Cole's legs to crowd in next to him. There was very little space for them in here.

Cole's legs moved and there was space for Varric to sit. "Thanks." He huddled into the space, feeling over Bianca to see if she'd taken any damage. "Remember to keep breathing. We're fine for air, trust me. I might've been born on the surface, but I've spent more time than I ever wanted to underground."

There was silence again and Varric shifted slightly. Cole could be quiet, but he rarely was. And he was curled up, making those soft, wounded animal noises.

"Kid? What's wrong?" He felt around until he touched Cole's ankle. Cole flinched and whimpered again, but what brief touch he felt told him Cole's skin was cold.

Shock, probably. He didn't know the kid was human enough to go into shock. 

"Hey, you're freezing. Come down here." Varric shrugged out of his jacket while he had the space to do so. 

"I'm sorry," Cole whispered.

"Not your fault you're cold. Come on, you need warming up." He tried to tug an arm from where it was curled around Cole's knees, hugging them to his chest. The brim of his hat bumped against Varric's cheekbone.

Kid was damn strong. Had to be, wielding those knives, but Varric wasn't going to be able to unfold him if he didn't want to be. And he didn't want to force him.

Enough people had made the kid do things, from what he'd managed to gather. He wasn't going to become another one. "Okay, you don't have let go. Can I put my coat over you?"

"I can't touch you! You'll die if you touch me."

The kid's voice was shrill with fear, his breath a rough pant of panic. Varric eased back, careful to not touch. "Okay. Not touching. Why will I die if I touch you? Can you tell me?"

It might be a spirit thing, but this wasn't the spirit Compassion he was talking to. Cole's spirit side was calm and serene and this boy opposite him in the darkness was anything but. No, Varric was fairly sure that this was something very different.

"I held Bunny in the darkness and I killed her. She was quiet and still, such a good girl, don't make a noise, don't make a noise or he'll find us, and she did and she was dead and I killed her. Don't touch me! I might kill you."

Varric could hear Cole scrabbling against the stones, trying to press further away from him. "Hey, shh, I'm not coming closer. Was this..." How to put it? "Was this the other Cole? The mage?"

There was a silence, but he could hear the rub of hat against stone and guessed that Cole was nodding. 

"And he was hiding with his sister? Little sister?"

"... yes." Cole's voice was softer, but slightly calmer. "Bunny was his little sister. She cried when Father hit Ma. She had to stop crying or he'd find us."

Sweet Maker. Just hearing it hurt. You knew it happened, but the thought of beating someone as soft as Cole, attacking a little girl and her brother-

"-it makes me sick just think about those people, how can anyone hurt kids-"

"Yeah," Varric said, cutting off Cole's narration. "It wasn't your fault, or his. It was a horrible fuckin' accident that Bunny died."

"I don't want to hurt you," Cole whispered again.

"You won't, kid. You trust me?"

Silence, then that soft scrape sound again. He was nodding. Varric hoped he was nodding.

"I bet Cole was holding Bunny, right? Cuddling her? Make her feel warm and safe?"

More scraping.

"That didn't hurt her, okay? Touching her, holding her, it didn't hurt her." He reached out slowly and touched Cole's foot, sliding his hand to his ankle to grip there, let him feel a person's warmth. "The dark didn't make it happen. You're not going to hurt me. I'm not going to hurt you."

Cole didn't move for a long moment. Varric made himself keep breathing.

And then he was crashed into the wall by a double armful of shaking, cold spirit. He wrapped his arms around Cole, pushing his hat out of the way and rubbing his back briskly. "I got you, it's all right. The dark won't hurt you. Or me."

He made himself think on his novels, not on the things _in_ the dark that could do serious harm. He also wrapped his coat around Cole, trying to warm him up.

"I don't like being trapped in here." It was a muffled statement, said into Varric's shoulder and chest.

"Me neither, kid, but we're okay. They'll get us out, just might have to wait a while for it."

Cole made an unhappy noise and buried himself into Varric's chest a bit more. Varric rubbed his back more briskly, wincing as a piece of armour dug into his stomach and then Cole was settled between his legs, curled up like a frightened child.

And he knew what had helped him as a child.

"How about I tell you a story?"

"With a nug?"

"Sure, kid. With a nug." Varric settled an arm around Cole, closing his eyes and resting his head on the rocks and half listening to the sounds of their impending rescue as he told Cole a story about lost miners and the nug that helped them find their way home.


End file.
